Historic Pelham: Coroner's Inquest Jury Found Railroad "Criminally Negligent" in the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885

On December 27, 1885, the mail express train out of Boston known as the "Owl Train" because it traveled overnight between Boston and New York City reached Pelhamville during a major windstorm just as a gale lifted the wooden station platform into the air and flipped it onto the tracks. Engineer Riley Phillips cut the steam and braked, but the engine smashed into the overturned platform, left the rails and tumbled end-over-end down the 60-foot embankment dragging the fire tender and a large mail car with it. Phillips and his fireman, recently-married Eugene Blake, were thrown out of the cab. Phillips was bruised, but lived. Eugene Blake was crushed in the incident and died a short time later.

A coroner's inquest was held the following week to determine the cause of the death of Eugene Blake. Today's posting to the Historic Pelham Blog transcribes a brief article from a White Plains newspaper describing the findings of the coroner's inquest jury. The jury concluded that "Eugene Blake came to his death by a railroad accident at Pelhamville, Dec. 27, 1885, through the criminal negligence of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company in failing to secure the platform of the above station."

I have written about the 1885 Pelhamville Train Wreck on numerous occasions, and have published the only known photograph of the wreck as it was being cleared a few days later, as well as images of engravings published in Scientific American showing several depictions of aspects of the wreckage after the accident. At the end of today's posting, I have republished these images and have included a list of links to earlier articles about the incident.

"COUNTY ITEMS.
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Last Saturday evening Coroner Tice concluded his inquest relative to the death of fireman Eugene Blake in the railroad accident, at Pelhamville, on Dec. 27. Riley Phillips, the engineer, testified that as he neared the station the air was full of flying sand raised by the storm. When he struck the platform, he shut off steam and then went with his engine down the embankment. There were no flanges on the forward driving wheels, but he believed that flanges would not have saved the engine. John Heeney Jr. superintendent of motive power for the road, testified that two-thirds of the engine were similarly constructed to enable them to round curves with the least possible strain of the axles. The other witnesses could not discover that the old platform had been securely spiked down. The jury then rendered a verdict, 'That the said Eugene Blake came to his death by a railroad accident at Pelhamville, Dec. 27, 1885, through the criminal negligence of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad company in failing to secure the platform of the above station."

Source: COUNTY ITEMS, Eastern State Journal [White Plains, NY], Jan. 2, 1886, Vol. XLI, No. 42, p. 2, cols. 4-5.

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I have written extensively about this tragic Pelhamville train wreck. For some of the many examples, see:

Mon., Sep. 24, 2007: The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Tue., Sep. 25, 2007: More About the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Wed., Sep. 26, 2007: The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 Continued . . .

Thu., Sep. 27, 2007: Findings of the Coroner's Inquest That Followed the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Fri., Dec. 21, 2007: 1886 Poem Representing Fictionalized Account of the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Wed., Jan. 9, 2008: The Aftermath of the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Thu., Apr. 02, 2009: Biographical Data and Photo of the Engineer of the Train that Wrecked in Pelhamville on December 27, 1885.

Fri., Jul. 15, 2011: Another Newspaper Account of The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885.

Mon., Feb. 17, 2014: Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885: Another Account Published with a Diagram of the Aftermath of the Crash.

Wed., Mar. 26, 2014: Postscript To the Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885 - Settlement of the Widow's Lawsuit Against the Railroad.

Bell, Blake A., The Pelhamville Train Wreck of 1885: "One of the Most Novel in the Records of Railroad Disasters, 80(1) The Westchester Historian, pp. 36-43 (2004).